Archive for category Transport
Foundation stone for the first phase of the ORR in chennai
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Departments, Health, Information, Transport, function, government, modification, programme on August 30th, 2010
Chennai is set to get another infrastructure project. Deputy Chief Minister MK Stalin on Sunday laid the foundation stone for the first phase of the Outer Ring Road (ORR) to be developed along the periphery of the Chennai Metropolitan Area. The ORR is aimed at easing congestion in the city.
The project, to be taken up in two phases, would start from Vandalur in National Highway 45 and go up to Minjur, through Tiruvottiyur-Ponneri- Panchetty for a length of 62 kms linking Bangalore, Tirupathi and Kolkata roads.
Stalin launched the commencement of work for the first phase from Vandalur to Nemilicheri at a cost of Rs 1082 crore, covering a distance of 30 km under public-private partnership mode.
Addressing a function at suburban Pattabiram, Stalin said the government had allotted funds for the first phase and began acquistion of land for the second phase.
The Deputy Chief Minister also declared open the newly-built Avadi Municipality Building and two Railway Oerbridges at Pattabiram and Thiruninravur on the city outskirts.
Stalin said the idea of building an ORR was first mooted during the DMK government’s regime in 1967 when Chief Minister M Karunanidhi held the Public Works and Highways portfolios.
Several highways on Chennai’s periphery, like the Tambaram-Chengalpet, Poonamallee-Bangalore, Avadi-Tirupatji and Gummidipoondi-Kolkata, were not linked then.
‘It was he (Karunanidhi) who set up the Madras Area Transportation Study panel to go into the transportation requirements and ways to decongest the city,’ he pointed out and added that the committee had later come up with the proposals like the ring roads.
Stalin said elected representatives and officials should function responsibly and people ought to stand by the government led by Karunanidhi for more welfare schemes to reach them.
Elaborating on the welfare schemes implemented by the ruling DMK ever since it assumed office in 2006, Stalin said that about 1.35 crore out of 1.52 crore beneficiaries have received free colour TVs in the State.
Necessary orders have already been issued to the officials concerned to distribute CTVs to remaining beneficiaries before the yearend.
Recalling the Independence Day announcement by the Chief Minister in connection with the Kalaignar Housing Scheme, Stalin said the ruling DMK had increased subsidy by Rs 15,000 to Rs 75,000 for each concrete house built under the scheme.
Other works
On Sunday, Stalin also laid the stone for a bridge over the Buckingham Canal on Sadayankuppam Road at an estimated cost of Rs 16.50 crore.
The Deputy Chief Minister also inaugurated a road over bridge at Pattabiram, and one between the Pattabiram and Thiruninravur railway stations.
In addition, he declared open the new Avadi Municipal building besides three other bridges in Tiruvallur district.
The coverage
Spanning over 62.3 km from Vandalur to Minjur, the width of the ORR would 122 metre. The first phase that we are inaugurating Sunday would stretch from Vandalur to Nemmilichery and it spans over 30 km.
Authorities are already in the process of acquiring land for the second phase, which would stretch from Nemmilichery to Minjur. The total cost of construction for the projected is estimated at Rs 1,082 crore.
Engine of Kanyakumari-Rameswaram Express derails; none hurt
Posted by ganesh in Health, Information, Other, Railway, Transport, Virudhunagar, illegal on August 30th, 2010
Passengers of Rameswaram-bound Kanyakumari-Rameswaram Express (Train No: 2790) had a miraculous escape, as the engine of the train derailed between Sathur and Thulukkapatti in Virudhunagar district early today.
Railway sources said the mishap occurred at 0106 hrs at Venkatajalapuram village. No coaches derailed and all the passengers were safe.
The stranded passengers were moved by Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) Buses from Sathur to Madurai from where they were sent to Rameswaram by a passenger train.
Senior railway officials, led by Additional Divisional Railway Manager (ADRM), Madurai Division C Venkatasubramanian rushed to the spot along with a technical team to restore the train services.
The cause of the accident was not known yet, sources adding investigation was on.
The railway police have launched an investigation to ascertain whether it was an act of sabotage to derail the train.
Meanwhile, a three-member railway technical team from Virudhunagar, which was rushed to the accident site for restoration work, met with a road accident.
An autorickshaw in which they were going to the site, collided with a speeding car in which gang man, Madurai, Veeran died on the spot, while three others, including the driver of the tri-wheeler sustained serious injuries.
The injured were rushed to Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) at Madurai and Government Hospital at Virudhunagar.
Southern Railway announced running of special trains to Ramzan
The Southern Railway today announced running of special trains to clear the extra rush of traffic during Ramzan.
Chennai Egmore-Nagercoil-Chennai Egmore Specials will leave here at 2020 hrs on September nine and 11 and arrive Nagercoil at 1100 hrs, the next day.
The Nagercoil-Chennai Egmore Special will leave Nagercoil at 1330 hrs on September 10 and 12 and arrive Chennai Egmore at 0425 hrs, the next day.
Chennai Central-Nagercoil Superfast Special and Nagercoil- Chennai Central Special (via Erode, Karur, Dindigul) will leave here at 2330 hrs on September eight and arrive Nagercoil at 1400 hrs, the next day.
The Nagercoil-Chennai Central Special will leave Nagercoil at 1615 hrs on September nine and arrive Chennai Central at 0815 hrs, the next day.
The Chennai Central-Mangalore Central-Chennai Central Special will leave here at 2035 hrs on September eight and arrive Mangalore Central at 1330 hrs the next day.
The Mangalore-Chennai Central Special will leave Mangalore Central at 1725 hrs on September nine and arrive Chennai Central at 1000 hrs, the next day. The Chennai Central-Mangalore Central-Chennai Central Specials (via Coimbatore) will leave here at 2035 hrs on September 10 and arrive Mangalore Central at 1330 hrs, the next day.
The Mangalore-Chennai Central Special will leave Mangalore Central at 1415 hrs on September 12 and arrive Chennai Central at 0745 hrs, the next day.
The Chennai Central-Tirunelveli-Chennai Central Specials (via Chennai Egmore, Villupuram, Vriddhachalam) will leave here at 1930 hrs on September eight and arrive Tirunelveli at 0935 hrs, the next day.
The Tirunelveli-Chennai Central Special will leave Tirunelveli at 1455 hrs on September nine and arrive Chennai Central at 0500 hrs, the next day.
The Nagercoil-Chennai Egmore Superfast Special and Chennai Egmore Nagercoil Special will leave Nagercoil at 1700 hrs on September 12 and arrive Chennai Egmore at 0605 hrs, the next day.
The Chennai Egmore-Nagercoil Special will leave here at 1440 hrs on September 13 and arrive Nagercoil at 0535 hrs, the next day.
Advance reservation for the above trains will commence tomorrow,a Southern Railway release said today.
Queen’s Baton Relay enters Madurai on Tuesday
Posted by ganesh in Information, Railway, Sports, competition, function, games, programme on August 26th, 2010
The Queen’s Baton Relay (QBR) Torch for the XIXth Commonwealth Games entered Madurai on Tuesday. The torch, brought from Ramanathapuram, was received by Collector C. Kamaraj at around 1.p.m.from Wing Commander V.N.Singh, the relay commander.
The 66.4 cm-high baton, weighing 1.9 kg, carried Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s message for the athletes, engraved on a miniature 18-carat gold leaf, representative of the ancient Indian ‘patras.’
The relay run started from Teppakulam at around 4.30 p.m.
The Collector handed over the torch to weightlifter Balamuruganandam, an Arjuna Awardee and sprinter Natarajan, a national record holder.
The run passed through PTR Bridge, Anna Nagar and KK Nagar before it reached MGR Stadium in Race Course.
Meanwhile, over 19,000 people had visited the Commonwealth Express stationed at Madurai railway station on Monday and Tuesday,
Chennai Corp will extend Source segregation of waste in 75 more wards
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Departments, Health, Information, Transport, government, modification, programme, vehicles on August 26th, 2010
The Chennai Corporation will extend its programme of source segregation of waste to 75 more wards by next month.
For this, it is procuring seven lakh plastic bags and over 140 tricycles painted in red for collecting the recyclable waste from residents, according to a senior official of the civic body.
The bags along with pamphlets would be distributed free of cost and conservancy workers would purchase the recyclable waste from the residents every fortnight. The residents would also be informed of the time and date of the next collection.
In April this year, the Corporation launched the source segregation scheme, to promote segregation of recyclable waste, by distributing bags to residents of 17 wards in six of its 10 zones. The scheme of purchasing recyclable waste is being implemented by ITC Ltd in four wards of Zone 5 (Kilpauk).
The civic body has also provided weighing machines for the conservancy workers. The plastic waste is purchased at the rate of Rs.2.50 per kg.
The 75 wards to be covered by the Corporation are in the Tondiarpet, Basin Bridge, Ayanavaram, Kilpauk, Nungambakkam and Saidapet zones.
SR One coach of Chennai-bound Goods train derails Jolarpet
One coach of a Chennai-bound goods train derailed near Jolarpettai station on the Chennai-Katpadi section of Southern Railway this morning.
Railway sources said the eighth coach from the engine derailed resulting in delay of two outgoing trains from Chennai Central, which were detained and cleared at several signals.
The Chennai-Coimbatore Kovai Express and the Bangalore-bound Brindavan Express, left Central station at the scheduled time, but was detained midway at several signals.
After a delay of about an hour, the expresse trains crossed the derailment spot.
The derailment occurred around 0500 hrs and railway authorities cleared the track by around 0800 hrs.
However, the arrival of long distance trains to Chennai was not affected.
Special buses to Tirupparankundram for ‘Pournami girivalam.’
Posted by ganesh in Festivals, Information, Madurai, Public, Temples, Transport, function, government, vehicles on August 24th, 2010
The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (Madurai Division) will operate special buses to Tirupparankundram on Tuesday for the convenience of pilgrims visiting the Subramaniaswamy Temple for ‘Pournami girivalam.’
According to a TNSTC press release, the buses will be operated from P and T Nagar, Periyar Bus Stand, Tirumangalam, Kariapatti, Avaniapuram and Tiruppuvanam.
Heavy rains disrupt normal life in coastal Tamil Nadu
Many promises of better infrastructure before the onset of northeast monsoon in several suburbs remain unfulfilled. Intermittent rains for the past two months are a stumbling block in completing civil works, say representatives of the local bodies.
The frequent bout of showers, a daily feature over the past few weeks, has affected normal life in the southern suburbs. Residents already fear the woes in store when the city experiences heavy rain during the northeast monsoon.
Showers that lash for just an hour are enough to inundate the Grand Southern Trunk Road in Chromepet bringing traffic to a grinding halt. “It was only recently that work on a minor bridge across GST Road was completed to drain rainwater to opposite side. The flooding has clearly exposed that the minor bridge, constructed from the tax payers’ money, is a complete failure,” said S. Narasimhan, Pallavaram municipal councillor.
The unexpected rains have also affected the progress of some mega projects in Pallavaram and Tambaram.
Some of the worst affected places are Tiruneermalai and Anakaputhur, Madipakkam and the tail-end pockets of Ullagaram – Puzhuthivakkam. In western and northern suburbs, including Avadi and Ambattur, many roads that were due for patchwork remain unpaved as the work to provide water supply and underground drainage network has been delayed.
Officials of the western municipalities said showers have pushed the deadline of many works by two months. About 30 to 40 per cent of roads in Ambattur have been dug up for civil works.
Many local bodies such as Madhavaram plan to take up monsoon preparedness work such as desilting of stormwater drain next month hoping that rains would subside.
DRI seizes 127 tonnes of imported e-waste 4 foreign countries
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Departments, Information, Smugglings, Transport, electronic, illegal on August 21st, 2010
Officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Chennai, have seized 127 tonnes of e-waste imported from four foreign countries from a container terminal here.
C. Rajan, Additional Director General, DRI, Chennai, said they had received a tip-off that electrical and electronic waste was being imported on the pretext being used computers, through the Chennai port.
Five consignments from eight containers were taken up for scrutiny. While one each was imported from Australia, Brunei and Canada, two were from Korea.
Examination of goods in the containers revealed the presence of computer monitors, CPUs and processors, which were found to be very old, used and appeared to be in unusable condition.
Meant for recycling
A large number of the computer monitors were found to be more than 10 years old and were meant for recycling, Mr. Rajan said.
Chartered engineers, who examined the five consignments, stated that the consignments contained goods some of which were non-functional and those reusable items required extensive refurbishing, which would again generate more e-waste.
Purpose-built recycling plants under controlled condition and dumping area with a facility to treat hazardous waste and disposal were essential to prevent risk to human health and environment, he pointed out.
The import of electrical and electronic waste are covered under Hazardous Waste (Management, Handling and Trans-boundary Movement) Rules 2008 and would be allowed only with permission from the Ministries of Environment and Health besides a licence from the Director General of Foreign Trade. In the cases taken up for investigation, the importers were not in possession of the required permission, Mr. Rajan said.
The DRI has registered cases against the importers. In four cases notices have been issued to the importers.
The seized goods will be re-exported to their country of origin after due process of adjudication,
Drunken man breaches high security at airport,almost boards flight
Posted by ganesh in Airways, Chennai, Health, Information, Transport, government, illegal on August 19th, 2010
In a serious breach of security at the highly-guarded Anna International airport, a drunken man trespassed and almost boarded a New Delhi-bound flight without a valid ticket last evening.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) has ordered a probe into it.
Airport sources said the man, later identified as Krishnamurthy, a cobblery made his way to the tarmac of the airport and stood along with passengers to board the flight.
He managed to reach Bay 59 and joined the queue of passengers waiting to board the Jet Airways flight to New Delhi.
As the passengers were boarding the flight, the airline staff found that Krishnamurthy did not have a valid ticket and immediately alerted the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, manning the security at the airport.
The CISF men later handed him over to airport police for necessary action.
At a time when a seven-tier security ring was installed in the airport and visitors entry ban imposed for Independence Day still in force, airport and security officials were baffled as to how the man managed to come upto the flight, hoodwinking the security. Hectic construction activities were also going on at the airport as part of the expansion plans.
The sources said the man had sneaked into the airport through Gate No one, which was manned by three armed CISF personnel.
Taking serious view of the incident, the AAI today ordered a probe. It will question the three CISF men as to why they failed to spot him.
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